Foster Siblings
by Yemi Hikari
Summary: Gotham's foster care system was broken, but both Robin and Avalanche experienced the system first hand. Neither expected to meet up four to five years later.


_Disclaimer - I don't own Young Justice or X-Men Evolution. I also wish to clarify a misconception - that the only way a kid can end up in juvi is by delinquent behavior. A kid can be either an offender, or a non-offender. Sometimes the get put together because the system is broken, other times because the area only has the one facility. Gotham falls under broken system. Written for Fanfic Bootcamp 2018._

**Foster Siblings**

"Wow. I'd never give one of my teammates a piggyback ride like that."

The team found themselves in a quaint town called Bayville. Batman sent the team to investigate certain unexplained incidents which caught either his or the League's attention. When the new speedster appeared suddenly, Robin found himself in a precarious position. Namely, the young vigilante was perched precariously on the shoulders of Kid Flash as the two hurried through what seemed like a deserted alleyway. The two planned on rendezvousing with the rest of their team when the stranger appeared.

Instinctively, Robin stiffened, something he mentally cursed due to feeling his small frame start toppling off his precarious perch. The silver-haired person smirked, quickly running a circle around Kid Flash making Robin's best friend balk. The sudden lurching movement sealed the deal, causing Robin to fall sideways into the wall. A sharp pain coursed through his skull where his head contacted the hard surface, but as he continued falling Robin felt the wall scrape up his left arm from the elbow down.

Batman's partner slid down, a groan escaping his lips. Kid Flash attempted stopping to help, only for a blue blur to knock the speedster off his feet. "Hey!"

"Catch me! Catch me if you can!"

Robin closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw Kid Flash darting after the stranger, attempting to punch the person, only for the person to continue teasing and pulling Robin's friend away. Shakily, he attempted standing on his two wobbly legs. He turned around to find a strange kid sitting on top of the dumpster, reminding Robin of a frog. Robin's eyes blinked, and his tongue slipped. "Froggy?"

The next thing Robin knew green slime was flying at his eyes, covering them but hardening quickly. He stumbled backward into wall, slamming hard. He was certainly going to feel things the next few days. His hands reached up, wanting to pry the strange substance off his eyes, only to freeze upon remembering his mask. Said mask would likely come off with the strange goop.

A quick kick in the side resulted in him falling to the ground. Instinctively, he lifted his hands over his head, expecting another blow. However, he heard a voice of another teen instead. "Toad, what the hell are you doing!"

"He called me a froggy!" The second speaker was closer, making Robin guess the person was the frog-like person. He heard someone knocking the second away.

"So? Isn't that kind of a compliment, coming from a kid? Even if it wasn't, it doesn't excuse beating up on a kid who's younger and smaller than you." Robin heard Toad mutter under his breath, obviously displeased with the second person's comment. "Go see if you can catch up with Quicksilver or Blob. I'll take care of this."

Robin swallowed, his head hurting. He felt someone lift him up by the front of his uniform, and yet the person did this in what reminded him of Batman's attempts at being gentle when he first took his ward in. However, he started panicking when the person reached for the slime. He attempted pushing the hands away. "No."

"I can't let Toad's slime stay on your face. Plus, I've got to see if you got a concussion, and for that I need to see your eyes."

A quick tug ripped the slime and mask off, making Robin yelp. For some reason the face in front of him looked familiar, and yet the person's eyes seemed to widen in recognition.

"Grayson?"

Robin found himself blacking out.

**X**

Lance hated the system.

Of course, Gotham was the worst place he'd ever lived. In Gotham his time spent in juvi had nothing to do with his juvenile delinquency. He, like many other kids found themselves stuck in juvi because there were no beds at foster homes. He was eleven or twelve at the time, so he remembered when Jason Todd and Dick Grayson came in. Jason came first and left first, his mother having died from an overdose. He stayed until his father got out of jail and could get custody.

Grayson was an entirely different matter. He'd not found out what happened to Grayson, yet he remembered the manner in which the other kids made fun of Dick for his choice in nickname and how the kid pretended nothing bothered him. Of course, the kid woke up from nightmares just like Jason did and Lance found himself nudging both boy's awake. Sometimes he found them in the same bed. He couldn't blame either, both having seen their dead parents.

Even though they didn't share a foster home, they were still his foster siblings.

Of course, when his mother got clean and custody, she fled Gotham for Illinois, hoping to escape her past. She still got back into drugs, but this time the courts ruled she couldn't get custody back ever. He'd bounced from foster home to foster home, the two kids in Gotham remaining in the back of his mind. Any visit to juvi held a stigma one struggled getting away from.

He was surprised to find one of those kids in front of him now, the familiar blue eyes looking at him slightly glazed over. When the boy toppled over, Lance reached out to catch him, letting out a sigh. He gently lifted the boy into his arms, cursing his luck. Mentally, he attempted calculating Dick's age. Jason was six or seven at the time, and Dick was eight or nine, meaning Dick was now thirteen, maybe fourteen.

How he got Dick into the boarding house without anyone noticing he didn't know. He set Dick onto the bed gently, pulling a blanket over the boy before going downstairs hoping for some ice. When he got back, he heard the boy groan. Before he could place the ice he retrieved onto the boy's forehead where the bruise was forming, Dick's robin blue eyes snapped open. His eyes darted around in panic. "Where am I? Who are you?"

Lance paused, his hand hovering with the ice pack. "You don't recognize me Dick?"

"No. How do you know my name?"

"Juvi." The reaction he got next screamed he should have handled things more carefully. Dick bolted up, slamming against the wall, hissing in pain meaning he'd likely hurt himself elsewhere. After all, his left arm was also scraped up. Terror was in the boy's eyes. Lance dropped the bag onto the bed, holding his hands up.

"Don't touch me!"

Lance thought about it carefully, deciding doing the opposite would yield the best results. This was Dick after all. Reaching forward, he pulled the boy into a hug, much in the same manner he remembered doing for Dick and Jason all those years ago. He felt Dick tense. "It's okay. You're safe, and not in that place."

He felt the tension leave the boy's body. "Lance. You're Lance, the older kid who looked out for me when I was there."

The older teen pulled away, lifting the icepack to Dick's head. He lifted up one of the boy's small hands up to hold the ice pack up. "I'm going to go and get the first aid kit to take care of those scrapes." He stepped out of his room, noting how run down the place was. Mentally, he noted Dick was wearing some kind of uniform like he and the rest of his team wore. Frowning, he started back to his room.

"So, what happened to the kid?" Toad stood in front of him, his arms crossed behind his back, a large grin plastered on his face. "You said you would deal with him, so?"

"None of your business." Lance reached for his doorknob.

The younger member of the Brotherhood began to whine. "But he's _Robin_. You know, the partner of Batman."

A lightbulb went off in Lance's head. He'd just discovered the identity of Robin. His hand hovered over the doorknob.

"He's in your room, and you're treating his injuries? Can we meet him?"

Lance took a sigh, realizing suddenly Toad's love of superheroes who weren't the X-jerks kicked in. He grabbed the doorknob tightly as Toad attempted getting in. "Look, I'd appreciate if you would leave Robin alone. Got it?"

Toad didn't get it. "Why? This is _Robin_. The first ever sidekick."

"He's my foster sibling."

The smile on the younger member of the Brotherhood's face turned into a frown. "You aren't just making that up are you? To keep me from meeting Robin, the Boy Wonder?"

"No. He really is one of my foster siblings."

"Oh." Toad took a deep breath, before turning on his heels.

Lance took a deep breath, knowing Toad and Blob respected the boundaries having been in the system. Of course, Quicksilver and Mystique were different, so he needed to get Robin out as soon as possible. "Wait a second. Could you not tell anybody he's here? I'll owe you a major one later."

The smile returned to Toad's face before he darted off. Lance took this as an affirmative answer before entering the room. Robin sat on the bed, his lips forming a pout. He still thankfully held the ice pack to his head. "My identity."

"Don't worry. Not going to tell anybody."

"That Toad person?"

"I told him you were my foster sibling and he backed off." Robin didn't seem convinced yet didn't respond. Lance pulled out the items needed for cleaning up the scrapes and got to work. He'd not one this kind of thing since his last foster home, being that the rest of his team were either invulnerable or had weird healing ability he didn't have. A thought crossed his mind. "Can I ask you something Dick?"

"What?"

"Does Batman treat you okay? If he doesn't, I'll do something about it."

He watched Robin tense, the panic filling the other teen's voice. "Batman's _never_ abused me. Never, ever. Nobodies going to take me away from him."

Lance held up his hands. "I promise, I won't. I'll take your word, but know if anything changes you can come see me and I'll do something about it." He watched Robin stare at him, before going back to cleaning the scrapes. He had another question. "Let me guess. Batman's the best legal guardian ever, but those stupid social services in Gotham have threatened to take you away from him for some reason."

Robin lunged at him, burying his head into the older teen's chest, clinging tightly. Lance flinched yet didn't push Robin away. Eventually Robin pulled away. "You get it."

"I get it." Lance continued with the scrapes. When he finished he asked another question. "Why are you in Bayville?"

Robin clicked his tongue. "Top secret. My mask?" Lance glanced over at the stand. Robin got up. The kid took something from his utility belt to remove the slime, then something else to reattach the mask. "I've got to go."

"You sure you'll be okay?"

"If I don't go, certain people will worry about me, one of them being Batman."

"Keep in touch if you can."

"No promises." Robin turned, giving him a pained look. It wasn't pained because of his injuries. Both knew what broken promises were like.

"As I said, if you can, so if you can't it's not a broken promise." Lance watched a smile spread across the other teen's face. "Ah. See, that's more like the Dick Grayson I know."

"By Lance." Robin slipped through the window. Lance sighed, wondering if he'd ever see the kid again.


End file.
